Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer; this instrument is in fact the same design as the ATSR-2 flying on ERS-2. It has four infrared channels and three visible channels. The swath, centered on the subsatellite ground track, is imaged under two different incidence angles in both spectral bands.

Advanced Land Observing Satellite - ALOS website
The ALOS mission's objectives are general Earth observation and the data is used for cartography, and environmental and disaster monitoring. ALOS was operational from 2006-2011. Two further satellites, ALOS-2 and 3, are planned.

AMF

Air Mass Factor; a parameter which allows the transformation from slant column densities to cloumn densities along the line of sight.

Ascending Node Crossing, the point in the orbit path of a satellite, where the orbit crosses the equator and the spacecraft moves from South to North.

AO

Announcement of Opportunity; the call for proposals to utilize a satellite mission. Utilization can mean data exploitation but also the opportunity to provide payloads.

AOCS

Attitude and Orbit Control; an important and complex subsystem of the satellite, providing measurement of the attitude in nominal and anomalous situations, and a range of actuators to modify attitude and attitude rates. It also provides the thrusters needed for orbit control and maintenance.

AOI

Announcement of Opportunity Instrument. These instruments are developed independently of ESA, under national funding. They have been selected following an Announcement of Opportunity, one of the selection criteria being the extent to which the AOI would enhance the overall measurement system.

European space company, now Airbus Defence and Space. ESA partners for the Envisat satellite.

ATBD

Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document

ATSR

Along Track Scanning Radiometer

AUIG

AlOS User Interface Gateway

Aura OMI

Aura OMI website - Aura is a NASA mission that aims to study chemistry in the Earth's atmosphere. The OMI instrument is carried aboard the satellite and is a nadir-viewing UV/VIS imaging spectrograph that measures solar radiation backscattered by the Earth's atmosphere.

AVHRR

Advanced Very High Resloution Radiometer

B

BIH

Bureau International de l'Heure

BNSC

British National Space Centre - British governmental organisation that coordinated space activities in the United Kingdom. It was replaced on 01 April 2010 by the UK Space Agency.

China Brazil Earth Resources Satellite - CBERS website
This satellite series is a cooperative program between CAST and INPE, to primarily provide China and Brazil with remote sensing imagery. The first three satellites (1, 2, and 2B) have been retired, but two further satellites are planned for the future.

CCD

Charge Coupled Device, an integrating optical detector in the near infrared, visible and ultraviolet region

Centre National d'Études Spatiales - CNES website
CNES is the French national space agency

COSMO-SkyMed

Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation - COSMO-SkyMed website
COSMO-SkyMed is a constellation of four satellites owned by ASI, aimed at providing Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery for both Civil and Military users.

CryoSat

Ice (Cryo) Satellite - CryoSat website
CryoSat is designed to study ice in the polar regions, with a goal of understanding the role of ice in Earth's system. The first CryoSat satellite failed to reach orbit and was lost. CryoSat-2 has been operational since April 2010.

CSA

Canadian Space Agency - CSA website
CSA is the national space agency of Canada

CTS

Conventional Terrestrial System

CZCS

Coastal Zone Colour Scanner

D

DBU

Digital Bus Unit, which provides the electrical interface between the signals on the OBDH bus and terminal equipment such as ICU's.

DDS

Data Dissemination System

Deimos-1

Deimos-1 website - Deimos-1 is an Earth Observation satellite owned by Deimos Imaging, and offers imagery for commercial applications as well as disaster monitoring. The satellite is part of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation and has been operational since 2009.

DEM

Digital Elevation Model

DESCW

Display Earth remote sensing Swath Coverage for Windows

DMC

Disaster Monitoring Constellation - DMC website
The Disaster Monitoring Constellation is a series of two satellite constellations, as part of an international effort to monitor and provide observational support in the event of natural disasters. Three of the satellites in the First Generation constellation are currently operational, with the remaining two retired. The four satellites in the Second Generation constellation are all currently operational.

DMCII

Disaster Monitoring Constellation Imaging International - DMCii website
DMCii is a UK company which coordinates the Disaster Monitoring Constellation services

Dobson Units (DU) are used to measure atmospheric trace gases such as ozone. If you took all the molecules of ozone from a column of air, and compressed these molecules to the base of the column itself at STP (0oC and 1 atm), they would form a slab. One DU is defined to be 0.01 mm thickness of this slab. In the case of ozone, 1 DU corresponds to 2.69x1016 molecules per square centimeter of column base. See an example.

DORIS

Envisat Instrument for Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite

DSB

{C}

DSR

Data Set Record

DUE

Data User Element

DVB

Digital Video Broadcasting

E

ECMWF

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts - ECMWF website
The ECMWF is a European inter-governmental organisation that produces weather forecasts from Earth observation and remote sensing data.

EDI

ESA Developed Instrument. Such instruments are part of the Envisat industrial contract and are developed under full ESA responsibility

EM

Engineering Model

EMC

Electro-Magnetic compatibility

ENVISAT

ENVIronment SATellite - Envisat website
Envisat is an ESA environmental satellite that observes the atmosphere, ocean, land, and ice, with the goal of aiding environmental studies and climate change. Due to an anomoly on 08 April 2012 the mission was declared over on May 09 2012.

EO

Earth Observation

EOHelp

ESA's Earth Observation Help and Order Desk

EOLi

Earth Observation Link (catalogue)

EOLi-SA

EOLi Stand Alone

EOMD

Earth Observation Market Development

EOPI

Earth Observation Principal Investigator (web portal)

ERS

European Remote Sensing Satellite - ERS website
The two ERS satellites, owned by ESA, provided a broad range of environmental monitoring. ERS-1 was operational from July 1991 - March 2000. ERS-2 was operational from April 1995 - July 2011.

ESA

European Space Agency - ESA website
ESA is a multi-national European space agency that coordinates the space programme of Europe.

ESAC

Earth Science Advisory Committee

ESL

Expert Support Laboratory. The algorithms for Level 2 data processing comprise the retrieval of geophysical parameters from Level 1b (engineering) products. This step relies strongly on scientific inputs (e.g. methods for determing gas densities for atmospheric measurements) to be provided by scientific experts, i.e. the algorithms used in the operational processors are based on expert investigations. The Expert Support Laboratories are the formal implementation of this philosophy.

ESRIN

European Space Research Institute - ESRIN website
ESRIN is ESA's Earth Observation centre in Italy. It also serves as an interface between ESA and users of ESA's service, and is involved with international projects that make use of Earth observation.

EWFS

Envisat Web File Server

F

FD

Fast Delivery

FDGDR

Fast Delivery Geophysical Data Record, the standard RA GDR data product, available in slightly reduced quality within a few hours of measurement.

FFT

Fast Fourier Transform

FM

Frequency Modulated (eo) or Flight Model (envisat)

FOCC

Flight Operations Control Centre, located at ESOC Darmstadt

FOS

Flight Operation Segment, composed of the Flight Operations Control Centre located at ESOC, Darmstadt and the associated command and control stations. It provides control of the satellite through all mission phases.

FORMOSAT-2

FORMOSAT-2 is an NSPO Earth Observation mission, with an objective to acquire high resolution imagery for a broad range of applications.

FR

Fast Registration

FR (image)

Full Resolution

FTP (Server)

File Transfer Protocol (server)

G

GCP Ground Control Points

GDP

GOME Data Processor

GDR

Geophysical Data Record; the basic Level 2 product of RA-2.

GEM

Goddard Earth Model

GISTA

Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency - GISTA website
GISTDA is public organisation in Thailand that develops and applies Earth observation satellite technology and Geo-Informatics for the benefit of Thailand as a whole.

GLI

Global Imager

GMES

Global Monitoring for Environment and Security - (now Copernicus)
GMES was an European Union-led initiative to perform and provide Earth monitoring in six themes: marine, land, atmosphere, emergency, security, and climate change.

GOCE

Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer - GOCE website
GOCE is an ESA mission dedicated to studying Earth's gravity field and modelling the planet's geoid.

Global Ozone Measurement by the Occultation of Stars - GOMOS website
GOMOS is a medium resolution spectrometer that operates aboard the Envisat satellite.

GOSAT

Greenhouse Gas Observing Satellite - GOSAT website
GOSAT is a JAXA mission that aims to study global greenhouse gases and measure them, as well as monitor the atmosphere for Carbon Dioxide sources and sinks.

G-POD

GRID - Processing On Demand

GPS

Global Positioning System

GRACE

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment - GRACE website
GRACE is a joint mission between NASA and DLR, to measure Earth's gravity. Its secondary objective is to study the temperature and humidity in the atmosphere. The mission is composed of twin satellites working in conjunction.

GRS1984

Geodetic Reference System 1984

GSE

Ground Support Equipment

GSE (GMES)

GMES Service Element

H

HDF

Hierarchical Data Format

HDDT

High Density Digital Tape

HH

Horizontal-Horizontal (polarisation)

HR (file)

High Rate

HR (image)

High Resolution

HLOP

High Level Operation Plan

HSM

High Speed Multiplexer, which assembles the payload science data into a continuous data stream

HV

Horizontal-Vertical (polarisation)

I

I

In-phase

ICU

Instrument Control Unit, a part of the distributed command and control function implemented on ESA spacecraft. The unit receives, decodes and executes high-level commands for its instrument, and autonomously performs health-checking and parameter monitoring. In the event of anomalies it takes autonomous recovery actions.

IFOV

Instantaneous Field of View

IGBP

International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme

IGDR

Interim Geophysical Data Record; the basic Level 2 product of RA-2. The term Interim refers to the fact that it is generated very soon after data acquisition so interim values of some parameters, such as the orbit, must be used until the full-precision values become available. Otherwise the product is identical to the GDR.

IJRS

International Journal of Remote Sensing

IKONOS-2

IKONOS-2 website - IKONOS-2 is a GeoEye imaging satellite that aims to deliver high-resolution Earth Observation imagery for commercial applications. It has been operational since 1999.

Indian Remote Sensing Satellite - IRS-P3 website and IRS-P6 website
IRS is an ISRO remote sensing series of satellites. IRS-P3 was an experimental craft, with the objective of performing Earth Observation and algorithm development. IRS-P3 was operational from 1996-2004. IRS-P6, also known as ResourceSat-1, has the goal of providing continued remote sensing data for land and water resources management, and has been operational since 2003.

ISCCP

International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project - ISCCP website
The ISCCP's goal is to collect weather satellite radiance measurements and to analyse them to infer the global distribution of clouds and their properties. This data is then used to study the role of clouds in the climate.

ISLR

Integrated Side Lobe Ratio

ISRO

Indian Space Research Organisation - ISRO website
ISRO's objective is to develop space technology and apply these technologies. ISRO has launched and operates a number of satellites to further this goal.

J

JAXA

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency - JAXA website
JAXA is the national agency responsible for space development and research in Japan

Korea Aerospace Research Institute - KARI website
KARI is a Korean institute dedicated to aerospace research and developing and implementing applications in this field.

KOMPSAT

Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite - KOMPSAT-1 website and KOMPSAT-2 website
The KOMPSAT series, known as the Arirang series in South Korea, is a KARI mission providing Earth observation imagery for varied purposes, including disaster and environmental monitoring. KOMPSAT-1 was operational from 1999-2007. KOMPSAT-2 has been operational since 2006. KOMPSAT-3 and 5 are currently planned for the future.

L

Landsat MSS/RVB/TM/ETM

Landsat MSS/RBV website and Landsat TM/ETM website
Landsat is a joint NASA/USGS series of Earth Observing satellites. The MSS (Multispectral Scanner) was an instrument carried aboard Landsat-1 to Landsat-5 and performed high-resolution daytime acquisitons on a global basis and is still operational aboard Landsat-5. RBV (Return Beam Vidicon Camera) was an instrument carried aboard Landsat-1 to Landsat-3 and was used for cartography during daylight. TM (Thematic Mapper) is a multispectral scanning radiometer carried aboard Landsat-4 and Landsat-5, and is still operational aboard Landsat-5. ETM (Enhanced Thematic Mapper) is an instrument carried aboard Landsat-7 and covers the visible, near-infrared, shortwave, and thermal infrared spectral bands.

LBR

Low Bit Rate

LEOP

Launch and Early Orbit Phase, the critical first few orbits where appendage deployments are performed and the satellite is brought into a stable configuration.

LIDAR

Light Detection And Ranging

LR

Low Rate

LRAC

Low Rate Reference Archive Centre, colocated with the Payload Data Handling Station in Kiruna. Its primary goal is to maintain a Level 0 reference archive for all Low Rate instruments for the lifetime of the mission.

LRR

Laser Retro-Reflector

LTO

Linear Tape-Open

M

MDA

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates - MDA website
MDA is a Canadian business that provides advanced information solutions to capture and process data, to produce information, and to improve decision making and operational performance of businesses and government organisations.

MDS

Measurement Data Set, a defined data entity within a product.

MERCI

MERIS Catalogue and Inventory

MERIS

Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer

MGVI

Meris Global Vegetation Index

MIPAS

Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding

MLST

Mean Local Solar Time, which in the context used here refers to the descending node of the sun-synchronous orbit. The true local solar time of the descending node varies by up to 15 minutes around this value due to the eccentricity of the earths orbit around the sun, which induces an uneven angular velocity around the sun, while th eorbital precession rate is constant. This effect is known as the equation of time.

MPH

Main Product Header, the main description record at the start of every product, it follows a generic format.

MPP

Milestone Payment Plan.

MS

Multi-Spectral

MWIR

Medium Wavelength Infrared

MWR

MicroWave Radiometer

MWS

MicroWave Radiometer (sometimes referred to as MicroWave Sounder)

N

NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA website
NASA is the national space agency of the United States of America

NASDA

National Space Development Agency
NASDA was the national space agency of Japan until it was merged with two other organisations and became JAXA in 2003

Nimbus-7

Nimbus-7 website - Nimbus-7 was a NASA mission to map chlorophyll concentration in water, sediment distribution, gelbstoff concentrations, and the temperature of coastal waters and ocean currents. It was operational from 1978-1986.

NIR

Near Infrared

NMSF

Net Multiplicative Scaling Factor

NOAA

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA website
NOAA is an American organisation dedicated to studying the the oceans and atmosphere in the interest of predicting changes to the climate, weather and oceans.

NOAA POES

NOAA Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites - NASA POES website
The POES Project is a joint mission between NOAA and EUMETSAT, and consists of a constellation of weather satellites provided by ESA and NASA.

NRT

Near Real Time

N/S

North / South

NSPO

National Space Program Office - NSPO website
NSPO is the civlian national space agency of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

O

OBDH

On-Board Data Handling, this term is used in the context OBDH Bus, which is a synchronous serial data exchange and time-management network used on-board ESA spacecraft.

Processing and Archiving Centre; a concept which evolved from the PAF's of the ERS era. Their development and implementation is funded on a national basis while the operation for the services defined in the Payload Data Segment concept is provided by ESA.

PAF

Processing and Archiving Facility of the ERS-1/2 mission. Four PAFs are operational. These are the D-PAF (located at the German Remote Sensing Data Centre (DFD) at the DLR premises at Oberpfaffenhofen/Germany), the F-PAF at IFREMER (Brest/France), the I-PAF in Matera/Italy and the UK-PAF in Farnborough/UK.

PAN

Panchromatic

PAR

Photosynthetically Active Radiation

PCD

Product Confidence Data, a coded set of quality flags generated at various stages of data processing.

PDHS

Payload Data Segment, comprises all those elements which are related to payload data acquisition, processing, archiving and those concerning the user interfaces and services.

PDS

Payload Data Segment, comprises all those elements which are related to payload data acquisition, processing, archiving and those concerning the user interfaces and services.

PEB

Payload Equipment Bay, part of the Payload Module of the Polar Platform.

PI

Principal Investigator

PLC

Payload Carrier, part of the Payload Module of the Polar Platform.

Pleiades-HR

Pleiades website - Pleiades-HR is a future CNES constellation of two satellites which aim to provide high resolution optical imaging using advanced Earth Observation technologies.

PLM

Payload Module, the part of the Polar Platform which is mission-specific.

PMC

Payload Management Computer, located in the Payload Module, is responsible for command and control of the payload. It communicates with the on-board computer in the Service Module.

POLDER

Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances

PPF

Polar Platform, a multimission spacecraft designed to accomadate large payloads in a sun-synchronous low earth orbit.

PPTL

Processor Point Target Linearity

PRARE

Precise Range and Range-rate Equipment

PRF

Pulse Repetition Frequency, the rate at which (typically) a radar emits transmit pulses.

PRI (data format)

Precision Image (data format)

PRI

Pulse Repetition Interval, the interval between radar pulses.

PROBA

Project for On-Board Autonomy - PROBA website
PROBA is an ESA mission, that was originally intended as a technology demonstration mission. Since then the original PROBA-1 satellite, and PROBA-2 and PROBA-V have also provided Earth Observation data and monitoring.

Quick Scatterometer - QuikSCAT website
QuikSCAT was a NASA mission that aimed to take ocean-wind measurements to aid in weather forecasts and climate research. The satellite was launched in 1999 and ceased functioning in 2009.

R

RA

Radar Altimeter

RA-2

Radar Altimeter-2

RA (archive)

Rolling Archive

RAC

Reflective Acoustic Coupling; a type of surface acoustic wave device in which the acoustic signal undergoes a reflection.

RADARSAT

RADAR Satellite - RADARSAT-2 website
RADARSAT is a joint CSA/MDA mission consisting of two Earth observation satellites. RADARSAT-1 was launched in 1995, and RADARSAT-2 was launched in 2007.

RapidEye

RapidEye website - RapidEye is an Earth Observation mission of RapidEye AG and is a constellation of five satellites, providing imagery on a commercial basis.

RMS

Root Mean Square

RR

Reduced Resolution

RS

Remote Sensing

RTU

Remote Terminal Unit, a semi-intelligent device which is linked to the PMC by the OBDH bus and which proveides control and monitoring functions for relatively simple equipment such as power distribution units.

S

SAG

Science Advisary Group

SAGE

Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment - SAGE website
SAGE is a series of NASA remote sensing instruments, part of the NASA Earth Observing System. The three SAGE instruments have been used aboard satellites to study the atmosphere. The satellites that carried the first three instruments are no longer operational, but a fourth, SAGE-III-ISS, to be installed aboard the International Space Station, is planned for the future.

SAOCOM

Satellites for Observation and Communications - SAOCOM website
SAOCOM is a CONAE mission that will be Argentina's first remote sensing satellite.

SAR

Synthetic Aperture Radar

SAW

Surface Acoustic Wave, refers to a device in which acoustic waves propagating on the surface of a piezo-electric crystal transfer a signal between two transducers. Extensively used for delay lines, both dispersive and non-dispersive.

Sea-Viewing Wide -Field-of-View Sensor - SeaWiFS website
SeaWiFS was a GeoEye instrument that operated aboard the OrbView-2 satellite. The instrument's objective was to measure reflected visible sunlight from the ocean's surface. The instrument operated from the launch of OrbView-2 in 1997 to 2010, when communications were lost with the satellite.

SHARP

Standard-family HRPT Archive Request

SLC

Single-Look Complex (dataset)

SLR

Satellite Laser Ranging station.

SMOS

Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity - SMOS website
SMOS is an ESA mission that aims to gather global observations of soil moisture and ocean salinity, leading to an improved understanding of Earth's water cycle and helping to predict weather and climate forecasting.

SNSB

Swedish National Space Board - SNSB website
The SNSB is a Swedish government agency responsible for national and international space and remote sensing activities, primarily in the fields of research and development.

SPH

Secondary Product Header.

SPOT

Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre - SPOT-4 website and Spot-5 website
The SPOT mission is a series of Earth Observation satellites that have provided high-resolution optical imagery since 1986. Spot Image and CNES are responsible for the first five satellites, and Spot image and Astrium are planning two further satellites in the series for the future. SPOT-1 was operational from 1986-2003. SPOT-2 was operational from 1990-2009. SPOT-3 was operational from 1993-1996. SPOT-4 and 5 are currently operational.

SRTM

Shutle Radar Topography Mission - SRTM website
SRTM was an international mission between NASA/NGA, DLR, and ASI. It was an instrument that was carried aboard the shuttle Endeavour in 2000 and obtained elevation data on a near-global scale with the goal of creating a high-resolution digital topographic database of Earth.

SSH

Sea Surface Height

SSR

Satellite System Receiver

SST

Sea Surface Temperature

SSTL

Surrey Satellite Technology Limited - SSTL website
SSTL is a British company that provides international services for designing, manufacturing, launching and operating small satellites and associated technologies. They also provide consultancy and research and development services.

StM

Structural Model

STP

Standart Temperature (0oC) and Pressure (1 atm)

SWIR

Short Wave Infrared

T

TDT

Terrestrial Dynamic Time

TEKES

TEKES website - TEKES is the national funding agency for technology and innovation in Finland

Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, flown on Nimbus-7 and operational in 1978 - 1988.

TopSat

TopSat was a low-cost UK collaborative mission that served as a demonstration satellite in exploring the capabilities of high-resolution imaging on samll satellites.

TPM

Third Party Mission

TPMO

TPM Owner/Operator

TT&C

Tracking, Telemetry and Control, a term used to refer to the ground stations used in the day-to-day monitoring and control of a satellite. In the case of Envisat this function is performed by conventional S-band low-rate lnks to a ground station located in Kiruna.

TWT

Travelling Wave Tube, a microwave amplification device, which works by transferring energy from an electron beam to a wave propagating in a helix structure within the tube.

U

UET

User Earth Terminal

UNCFCCC

United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change

UPS

Universal Polar Stereographic

USGS

United States Geological Survey - USGS website
USGS is a scientific organisation dedicated to studying the ecosystem and environment, natural hazards, and natural resources, and the impacts of climate and land-use change.

USO

Ultra Stable Oscillator. an oscillator with a long term frequency stability of the order 10^8.